knew it. He might perpetrate almost any crime on the calendar and come
clear; but in this land where women were few they were honored. One
whisper from the Three Bar girl that Slade had raised his hand against
her and, powerful as he was, the hunt for him would be on, with every
man's hand against him.

His arms had half circled her when he whirled, catlike, every faculty
cool and alert, as a voice sounded from the door. Both had been too
engrossed to notice its noiseless opening.

"I've finished cleaning up round the shop and corrals," Harris said.
"Is there any rubbish round the house you'd like to have throwed out
and piled in a dry gulch somewheres out of sight?"

He stood in the door, half facing them, his left side quartering toward
Slade. To the girl it appeared that the strange pose was for the
purpose of enabling him to take a quick step to the right and spring
outside if Slade should make a move and she felt a tinge of scorn at
his precaution even though she knew that it would avail him nothing if
Slade's deadly temper were roused by the insult. Slade, who had killed
many, would add Harris to his list before he could move.

Slade's understanding of the quartering position and the odd sling of
Harris's gun was entirely different and as he shifted his feet until he
faced the man in the door, his movements were slow and deliberate,
nothing that could be misconstrued.

"Who summoned you in here?" he demanded.

Harris did not reply but stood waiting for some word from the girl.
She had a sudden sick dread that Slade would kill him and was surprised
at the sentiment, for no longer than an hour before she had wished him
dead. She made belated answer to his original question.

"No," she said. "Go on out, please."

He turned his back on Slade and went out.

"And you," she said to Slade, "you'd best be going too. We've been too
good neighbors to quarrel--unless you come over again with the same
idea you did to-day."

At sunset the girl called to Harris and he repaired to the house and
found her putting a hot meal for two on the end of the long pine table,
the first time she had deigned to eat with him since that first meal.

"There's no use of our going on like this," she said. "We've two years
of it to face; so it's best to get on some kind of a neutral footing."

For her own peace of mind she had tried to smother her dislike of him
and he was very careful to avoid any topic that would rekindle